Sharon Turner

Sharon Turner (24 September 1768 – 13 February 1847) was an English historian.

Life

Turner Was born in Pentonville, the eldest son of William and Ann Turner of Yorkshire, who had settled in London upon marrying.H. R. Loyn,
Turner, Sharon (1768–1847)
, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, May 2009, accessed 14 August 2010. He left school at fifteen to be articled to an attorney in the Temple. On 18 January 1795 he married Mary Watts (''bap.'' 1768, died 1843), with whom he had at least six children. Among these were Sydney, inspector of reformatory schools, and Mary, married to the economist William Ellis.

Turner became a solicitor but left the profession after he became interested in the study of Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon literature. He settled himself in Red Lion Square near the British Museum, staying there for sixteen years. When his friend Isaac D'Israeli left the synagogue after a dispute with the rabbi, Turner persuaded him to have his children, including the future Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, baptised in the Church of England, to give them a better chance in life.

Some of his manuscripts were written almost illegibly in the margins of letters, on the inside covers of magazines, or on discarded wax paper. His publisher sent him clean paper but Turner did not use it.

''History of the Anglo-Saxons''

Turner's '' History of the Anglo-Saxons'' appeared in four volumes between 1799 and 1805.

Britain at the time of original publication was involved in wars against France and the idea of the Norman yoke (Anglo-Saxon liberty versus Norman despotism) had been around since the seventeenth century. Turner demonstrated Anglo-Saxon liberty "in the shape of a good constitution, temperate kingship, the witenagemot, and general principles of freedom". Turner researched extensively the collections in the British Museum and the manuscripts of Sir Robert Cotton. In doing so he obtained a working knowledge of Anglo-Saxon.

The ''History'' had a profound impact on historiography for the succeeding fifty years. Robert Southey said that "so much new information was probably never laid before the public in any one historical publication". However, the ''Edinburgh Review'' in 1804 criticised Turner for a lack of discrimination and for the romantic parts of the work.

Sir Walter Scott acknowledged his debt to Turner for his historical work in his Dedicatory Epistle to his novel ''Ivanhoe''. In 1981 J. W. Burrow said Turner produced "the first modern full-length history of Saxon England … It was a genuinely pioneering work, and was much admired, and not without reason".

He contributed articles on English history to '' Rees's Cyclopædia'', but the titles are not known.

Historical work

He continued the narrative in several subsequent works: ''History of England During the Middle Ages'', a multi-volume publication covering English history from the reign of William the Conqueror to the accession of Henry VIII; ''History of the Reign of Henry VIII''; and ''History of the Reigns of Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth''. In 1839, the works were combined into ''The History of England'', a twelve-volume set covering all of English history up to 1603.

Against the emergence of the French Consulate, Turner promoted the notion of Anglo-Saxon liberty as opposed to Norman tyranny (strong since the 17th century).

Turner also authored a ''Sacred History of the World'', a translation of ''Beowulf'' and a poem on Richard III.

He was buried in a brick vault at West Norwood Cemetery. His son, Sydney Turner (1814–1879), was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, took holy orders in the Church of England, and became rector of Hempsted. Sharon Turner's son-in-law was William Ellis (1800–1881), an educationalist and economist who tutored the British royal family.

Notes

References

*H. R. Loyn,
Turner, Sharon (1768–1847)
, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, May 2009, accessed 14 August 2010.

Further reading

*C. T. Berkhout and M. McC. Gatch, ''Anglo-Saxon Scholarship. The First Three Centuries'' (Boston, 1992).
*D. G. Calder, 'Histories and Surveys of Old English Literature; a Chronological Review', ''Anglo-Saxon England'' 10 (1982), pp. 201–244.
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Sharon
1768 births
1847 deaths
19th-century English historians
English Anglicans
Translators from Old English
Burials at West Norwood Cemetery
18th-century English historians